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COVID-19 OOH Insights May 4-10

Out-of-Home Views are up as Movement Increases

As shelter in place orders expire and many states begin to reopen businesses, Ubimo’s data shows movement increased around Out-of-Home (OOH) properties the week of May 4 through 10. Nationally, movement was up by 7.8% the week of May 4 compared to the previous week. All but two Designated Marketing Areas (DMAs), Atlanta and Washington D.C., saw increases movement. Now, movement around OOH properties is only 8.4% lower than the pre-COVID baseline nationally.

DMAs Open for Business

In some DMAs, movement has spiked, returning to or outpacing pre-COVID levels of foot traffic around OOH properties. For example, Baltimore and Dallas both have returned to similar levels of foot traffic when compared to the pre-COVID period, while places like Oklahoma City and Wichita are experiencing increased movement compared to the pre-COVID period.

Lift in Movement week of 5/4

Compared to Pre-COVID

These DMAs are located in states that never had shelter in place orders, such as Oklahoma, or lifted their orders in recent weeks, such as Texas and Kansas. However, Maryland is just starting to ease restrictions and Balitmore is continuing their shelter in place order. The lift in movement suggests that residents are relaxed in their adherence to the shelter in place orders.

% Change in Movement

Compared to Pre-COVID

Hard Hit DMAs

DMAs that have experienced large outbreaks of COVID-19, including Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and New York, generally, experienced increases in movement the week of May 4 that were smaller than the national average. For example, Chicago saw almost no increase in movement around OOH properties with only a 0.4% lift compared to the previous week, as people continued to shelter in place. New York, the area with the largest number of cases in the United States, experienced a 3.2% increase in foot traffic and exposure to OOH properties week-over-week. None of these hard-hit DMAs have returned to their pre-COVID movement levels.

Lift in Movement Week of 5/4

Compared to Week of 4/27​

What does this mean for OOH advertising?

As movement and exposure to OOH properties increases, now is the time to engage with consumers. Our research shows that 6 out of 10 grocery store, pharmacy, and big box shoppers are currently seeing OOH advertising as they complete their essential trips to stores. With knowledge of movement increases at a DMA level and the effectiveness of OOH, brands and retailers can confidently use OOH to share their messages with consumers and create advertising campaigns tailored to their audiences.

Methodology – To conduct this analysis, Ubimo is analyzing movement around 340k+ OOH properties nationwide with a radius of 0.05 miles. Lift is calculated by taking the percent change in visitors observed compared to the baseline week-over-week. The baseline is calculated based on average visitors observed by DMA between the weeks of 12/30/19 and 2/17/20. This independent analysis is based on Ubimo’s location intelligence platform. Ubimo data is always anonymized and aggregated.